Singers pay befitting tributes to Phadke

Nagpur: Sudhir Phadke was a singer and music director who always laid emphasis on correct pronunciation and clarity in expression when it came to singing. His compositions appear simple to listeners but are difficult to sing. However, performers at musical programme titled ‘Tujhe Geet Ganyasathi’ paid a befitting tribute to Phadke to commemorate his birth centenary at Scientific Society Hall on Thursday.

Heavy rains did not dampen the spirit of music aficionados who gathered in large numbers at the programme organized jointly by South Central Zone Cultural Centre (SCZCC) and Om Shri Sai Bahuddeshiya Sanstha.

Singers Anand Fadnavis, Manjiri Vaidya Iyer, Shashank Dande, Sonali Dixit and Dnyaneshwar Khichi were accompanied by Govind Gadikar and Anand Maste on keyboard, Arvind Upadhyay on flute, Gaurav Tanksale on guitar, Vijay Deshpande on harmonium, Pramod Bawne on tabla, Vishal Dahasahastra on octopad and Vikram Joshi on minor.

They presented a total of 22 melodies, including a medley of six songs.

The playlist was interspersed with video clips sharing Phadke’s journey as a singer. The title song ‘Tujhe geet ganyasathi’ was presented first. This was followed by ‘Jyoti kalash chhalke’, ‘Santh wahate Krishna mai’, ‘Jivlaga kadhi re yeshil tu’, ‘Aakashi zep ghe re pakhara’, ‘Chandra aahe sakshila’, ‘Ashi pakhare yeti and ‘Hridayi preet jagate’.

The listeners were humming the tunes of ‘Savla ga rang tujha’, ‘Dis jatil dis yetil’, ‘Ek vaar pankhavaruni’, ‘Pratham tuj pahata’, ‘Toch chandrama nabhat’, ‘Ekach ya janmi janu’, ‘Swapnat rangle mi’ and ‘Kuthe shodhisi Rameshwar’.

The hall reverberated with tunes of the medley comprising songs ‘Priya aaj majhi nase saath dyaya’, ‘Sakhi maand zalya tarka’, ‘Je ved majala lagale’, ‘Madhurani tula’, ‘Baghat rahu de tuzyakade’ and ‘Daav mandun’.

The programme was conceptualized by Shweta Parmar and produced by Geeta Gadikar, Yashashri Dahasahastra and Sarika Fadnavis.

Stage decoration by Rajesh Amin was impressive. Ajit Agarkar and Prakash Bhandare looked after light and sound arrangement, respectively. Music arrangement was made by Gadikar and Moreshwar Dahasahastra.

Director of SCZCC Deepak Khirwadkar and Nishikant Bhivgade were the guests. Littérateur and dramatist Prabha Deoskar was felicitated for her contribution in her domain.

Smita Khangai had the audience in rapt attention as she shared anecdotes from Phadke’s life.